My son is in boot camp and has tested positive for COVID

[Careful1]

Hey everyone, I could use a friend, or two or 10 😟 my son enlisted in the USMC and is currently in boot camp. I haven’t heard from him since he left other then the scripted call they do once they make it to Parris Island to let you know they made it safely. I got a phone call tonight from the medic informing me my son has tested positive for COVID and is currently in quarantine. I got to speak with him for two minutes and while I was incredibly happy to hear his voice the moment he spoke I bout broke down. He sounded absolutely terrible, in all of his 22 years I have never heard him sound like that. I asked him how long he was sick and he said about 4 days. He told me he was having trouble breathing which I figured since he couldn’t get out more then a word or two without having to catch his breath and that his whole body hurt. I could hear the fear in his voice which just further increases my anxiety. He is hundreds of miles away where I can’t even set foot if I wanted to. I feel helpless and it bothers me that I can’t care for him or comfort him.
I was told by the medic that I would be informed if there was a need and then she hung up.

I am filled with worry and anxiety. Honestly, I am absolutely terrified. It’s like my worst nightmare come true. Since the start of this pandemic my number one fear was that one of my children would catch it. Myself, husband and my eldest daughter have been fully vaccinated. My 7 year old just got her first shot two days ago but unfortunately my son wasn’t vaccinated before he left. He worked full time with lots of overtime and also attended college classes full time so he kept putting it off. He was vaccinated once he got to boot camp but that was only a tad over two weeks ago so he either was exposed prior or shortly after.

I can’t get the way he sounded out of my mind and there is no way for me to check in on him. I won’t get a call from them unless there is a need which I suppose no call would be good news still it’s going to be incredibly hard wondering how he is doing and unable to know.

[Catkins]

Oh Careful1, I really feel for you. It's so difficult when they're away from us and you can't do anything to help.

Because he is in the military and at Boot Camp they will keep a very close eye on him and he will get any medical care he needs promptly and I would imagine sooner than if he was a civilian.

My brother was in the army for many, many years and during that time had some very serious health problems. The care he received in the military was excellent and he was well looked after. He was in many active war zones over the years and he did always say that even though the medical attention he got was good, you were considered lucky if you got sent to a US military hospital because the facilities were excellent.

I hope that reassures you a little bit.

Also with the British military they had family liaison officers, do they have that with you? If so, you could contact them? I know my mum had contact with them quite a few times over the years.

[pulisa]

It's a horrible situation for you but I suppose the medic thinks that everything is under control there hence the matter of fact approach and the desire not to alarm you when you can't do anything practical? It sounds as though they have a duty to inform you of his diagnosis but that's about it unless there is a need for you to know more?

I can very much appreciate your fears and know nothing about the set up at all but Catkins' suggestion re a family liaison officer is certainly a great idea if you have someone you could contact who could help you find out more?

[Careful1]

Unfortunately there is no one that I can contact. The first letter they write home they do provide us the emergency number to their platoon where we can contact their drill instructor in the event of an emergency but other then that the staff sergeant here at the recruiters office told me there was no other way. I haven’t gotten any letters from my son just yet. I wrote him 3 times once at the start of each week but he told me last night he hasn’t gotten them yet. He said the drill instructors collects their mail from the mail room but they aren’t given any mail until after the first few weeks they are there.

[Catkins]

I have just been googling USMC and apparently there are Family Readiness Officers that are supposed to help families. I don't know how you would contact them.

[Catkins]

This might be useless information but I googled Parris Island Family Readiness Officer and the search brought up some info, it gave details of Four Winds Family Readiness Centre, it gave a number of, 843-228-1505.

As I said this might not be helpful, but it might be worth a go.

[MyNameIsTerry]

I think getting into boot must mean he is in good shape already and his age is definitely in his favour. Remember it's rare for younger age groups to be so ill, something I'm sure is very hard to keep in mind right now, and as others have said he is in excellent hands.

I hope he gets better soon and you get updated to help you stop worrying. Before you know it he'll be back into his training.

And good for him for serving his country. You must be very proud of him.

[Careful1]

This might be useless information but I googled Parris Island Family Readiness Officer and the search brought up some info, it gave details of Four Winds Family Readiness Centre, it gave a number of, 843-228-1505.

As I said this might not be helpful, but it might be worth a go.

Awww, thank you so much for that information. I will definitely give them a call in a day or so to see if they can somehow get me an update. I know I will feel a lot better if I can get an update or two.

Thank you all for all the response’s. I am definitely proud of him. It’s just been hard, I have three children, he is my oldest and my only son. It was extremely hard for me to let go but I know he is a man and I have to allow him to be one.

I have a lot of stress on my plate. I have been dealing with my heart arrhythmia’s trying to find the right treatment plan for that and then I started having issues with my vision that I kept putting off until I started getting blurry patches in my left eye. I ended up having to be referred to a different eye specialist who took photos of the back of my eyes and discovered I have inflammation of the discs in both my eyes and hemorrhages of the blood vessels back there as well. She said something is putting pressure on my optic nerves causing the inflammation and now I have to go back to my neurologist because I need a need a new brain MRI, MRA, spinal tap and a bunch of eye tests I have never even heard of before. It seems like I just can’t seem to catch a break. It just seems like it a stream of never ending worry which of course provokes my anxiety and recently pretty bad bouts of depression.

[Catkins]

You have got a lot on your plate at the moment. Keep using all the techniques that you normally do to get through the tough times. Things will calm down again, it just takes a little time.

[pulisa]

I think you have to trust that your son is going to be well cared for and that no news is good news. Your priority is yourself now and getting through these tests so that you find out what is going on and get some definitive answers from the neurologist. It must be such a stressful time for you and I'm sure you feel overwhelmed by everything that's being thrown at you but look after your own mental health and try to deal with what you have to deal with rather than allowing your fears for your son's health to swamp you? He's your son and you wouldn't be kept in the dark if he were in any significant health difficulties.